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British Business Bank agrees initial £175m ENABLE Guarantee with specialist commercial lender DF Capital

Press release 19 January 2023

  • New commitment is expected to provide £225 million of annual funding for smaller UK businesses
  • Potential for The British Business Bank to double its commitment to £350 million at a later date

The British Business Bank has agreed an initial £175 million ENABLE Guarantee with specialist commercial lending bank, DF Capital.

The Guarantee will enable Manchester-based DF Capital to provide up to £225 million of additional inventory finance annually through its commercial floorplan and unit stocking solutions for UK SME dealer and manufacturing businesses.

This is the first time the ENABLE Guarantee programme has supported inventory finance. This specialist form of lending is critical to supply chains, supports the availability of working capital and improves cashflow across product distribution cycles.

DF Capital received its banking licence in September 2020. One of the objectives of the British Business Bank is to increase the diversity of supply and type of finance available to smaller businesses. In supporting new market entrants in this way, the Bank can help rapidly build the number of businesses supported and provide more choice across the market.

The Guarantee commitment may be increased to £350 million, which would support additional finance of around £450 million annually.

Supporting lenders in providing finance for smaller businesses is key for us at the British Business Bank. This is a significant facility and has the capacity to generate growth for dealerships and manufacturers across the UK as well as providing greater choice of finance for smaller businesses. Reinald de Monchy Managing Director, Guarantee and Wholesale Solutions, British Business Bank
We are delighted to have worked closely with the British Business Bank to utilise an ENABLE Guarantee for inventory finance for the first time. This sizeable facility gives us a runway to grow our lending and support more manufacturers and dealers in the years ahead. This has been an important milestone in our capital strategy, giving us increased capacity to scale the bank. Carl D’Ammassa Chief Executive Officer, DF Capital

Notes to Editors

About DF Capital

DF Capital is a trading name of DF Capital Bank Limited, a subsidiary of Distribution Finance Capital Holdings plc. It is a specialist commercial lending and personal savings bank, built to serve the needs of businesses and individuals in the UK.  It provides personal savings products to retail customers and award-winning inventory finance solutions to dealer and manufacturing businesses across the UK.

With its headquarters in Manchester, the bank now employs over 100 people.  It has provided over £2 billion of funding across a variety of leisure and commercial sectors, including motorhome & caravan; lodges & holiday homes; specialist/prestige cars, motorcycles/all-terrain vehicles; marine; agriculture; industrial and transport.

The bank is a Living Wage Employer and, in November 2022, it also received a two star accreditation from “Best Companies to Work For” which is awarded for outstanding levels of engagement. In January 2022, the bank was awarded the Gold Trusted Service Award from feefo for its savings offering – with customer satisfaction currently standing at 4.7 out of 5 stars.

About the British Business Bank

The British Business Bank is the UK government’s economic development bank. Established in November 2014, its mission is to drive sustainable growth and prosperity across the UK and to enable the transition to a net zero economy, by improving access to finance for smaller businesses. Its remit is to design, deliver and efficiently manage UK-wide smaller business access to finance programmes for the UK government.

The British Business Bank’s core programmes support over £12.2 billion 1  of finance to more than 96,000 smaller businesses 2 .

As well as increasing the supply and diversity of finance for UK smaller businesses through its programmes, the Bank works to raise awareness of finance options available to smaller businesses. The British Business Bank Finance Hub provides independent and impartial information to businesses about finance options, featuring short films, expert guides, checklists and articles from finance providers to help make their application a success.

The British Business Bank is also responsible for administering the government’s three Coronavirus loan schemes and its Future Fund, together responsible for delivering £80.4 billion in finance to 1.67 million businesses. These schemes are now closed to new applications.

British Business Bank plc is a public limited company registered in England and Wales, registration number 08616013, registered office at Steel City House, West Street, Sheffield, S1 2GQ. Wholly owned by HM government, the Bank and its subsidiaries are not banking institutions and do not operate as such. They are not authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). A complete legal structure chart for the group can be found at the British Business Bank.

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